Hi Nathan,

Only two things I notice right away. Number one is there are a few
isolated copper pours. You should remove them. Since they're not tied to
any signal or bus, they will just cause trouble.

The second is something you probably don't need to address, but
something to think about when routing a board. Take, for instance, your
voltage regulator U2 and its output decoupling cap C8. You have their
grounds tied together and tied to your ground plane with a via between
them. In a perfect world, the connection to ground would not be between
them. You probably know that already, because I see your treatment of
the ground connection of the crystal's load capacitors is done nicely
(well, it does have vias, but it looks like your chip has a bonding pad
so it limits your options).

Good work!

Best regards, Bob

On Thu, Mar 19, 2015, at 06:56 AM, Nathan House wrote:
> Good morning!
>=20
> I'm a student working on a directed research project involving a PCB
> design
> for a PIC18 microcontroller.
>=20
> None of my professors have much PCB design experience, so I don't have
> anyone I can go to for feedback on the schematic or layout. I know you're
> all professionals and are busy with your own work, but if anyone has a
> few
> free minutes and would like to critique my board layout I would really
> appreciate your advice.
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> Schematic:
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> https://www.foxytronics.com/misc/engr495/ENGR495.PDF
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> Screenshots:
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> https://www.foxytronics.com/misc/engr495/screenshots/1%20top%20poly.png
> https://www.foxytronics.com/misc/engr495/screenshots/2%20bottom%20poly.pn=
g
> https://www.foxytronics.com/misc/engr495/screenshots/3%20poly%20shelved.p=
ng
> https://www.foxytronics.com/misc/engr495/screenshots/4%203d.png
> https://www.foxytronics.com/misc/engr495/screenshots/5%203d2.png
>=20
> Altium project:
>=20
> https://www.foxytronics.com/misc/engr495/ENGR495.zip
>=20
> I'm planning on inverting the headers on the sides of the board (which
> can
> be seen in the last two images) so that it can be plugged into a
> breadboard.
>=20
> I'm trying to learn, so any feedback (I can accept negative feedback!)
> would be greatly appreciated!
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> Thanks for your time,
>=20
> Nate
>=20
> ---
> I'm a college student, take it easy on me ;-)
>=20
> Check out my small hobby electronics business!
> www.foxytronics.com

--=20
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